Rose
by Going Batty
Summary: Seymour reflects on recent events.


**Disclaimer**: I own nothing.

**A/N**: Sorry if it's all screwy. I just pulled an awake-for-24-hours thing, so I'm all screwed up right now. Well, enjoy anyways.

* * *

I couldn't believe it. It was still hard to believe that she was gone. At the shop, it was a struggle to do everything at once. But I suppose it was a good thing, me getting used to doing stuff by myself. I mean, I couldn't really expect her to like me, not after what I did to that boyfriend of hers. She knew- or at least suspected, I think, even before that damn vegetable told her everything. He didn't seem like the sort to just disappear for seemingly no reason. I always hoped she wouldn't bring it up. I already was feeling sick inside because of all the lies I'd told her.

It started out simply. I was tired all the time because of lack of sleep. Or so I said. The truth was, it was the plant. The plant sucking more and more blood from my veins, leaving barely enough to survive.

Then came the bandages. I told her I kept slipping whenever I used pruning shears. I think she truly believed me about that; I was actually quite clumsy. To be honest, I think it's gotten worse. I can't stop shaking. Who knows when IT will demand its next meal, which will mean more horrible deeds?

The boyfriend was harder to hide. I had gone in for an "emergency appointment". Which pretty much meant that I had to visit him, bringing along a gun I had recently bought. I couldn't bring myself to actually kill him, though. After going to all that trouble, it seemed like Doctor Scrivello was actually going to be able to work on my teeth. Dental torture is not a fun thing, let me tell you.

But when he put on that ridiculous mask, the gas mask that would feed laughing gas into his system-- well... It became stuck. To make a long story short, I watched a man die. By laughing himself to death. Gee, that must've sucked. I can only imagine how it felt, to know your life was slipping away with each passing second, and finding the whole thing amusing, even knowing you weren't going to be helped.

I don't know why I didn't help him pull off the mask. Maybe I was scared of what he would do to my mouth. Maybe somewhere deep in my mind, it felt like the right thing to do. Maybe I just wanted him to stop hurting Audrey. It seemed like a good thing to do at the time. How could I have been so stupid!?

After that, I felt guilty. I had just disposed of the body of her boyfriend and was now flinging myself at her, in the hope that she would realize how deeply in love with her I was before she found another boyfriend. That felt wrong to me, taking advantage of her like that when she was so upset, but I couldn't help it. I just didn't want her to get into yet another bad relationship. She had let me meet all of her previous boyfriends, and each one had been worse than the last.

My boss soon found out my secret, that Audrey's boyfriend hadn't really vanished, but had died. So he had to go. It was hard to cover up his death. I couldn't sleep well for a long time after. He was like a father to me. In fact, that's what he was. He had adopted me shortly before that dentist boyfriend Orin had died. I told Audrey that Mushnik had left to go visit his sister. In Czechoslovakia. That's far away, right? I hope so.

Businesses started calling, and I grew busier. Would I do a TV show for NBC about gardening? Would I agree to be photographed with my plant for the cover of Life magazine? Would I go lecture at colleges about plants and how to care for them? Offers like these and more were becoming more and more frequent. Often, I'd stay up all night writing for a lecture the next day or preparing for an interview or something. And the whole time, that plant was whining. About how it needed food. How its last meal was one week ago. How it couldn't wait ONE MORE MINUTE. DAMN PLANT WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE. I finally gave in, after it gave me about three seconds of silence. I left the shop to go pick up some meat for it. That was the worst mistake of my life.

I returned to the sound of screaming and a horrific sight. It was eating her. The plant was eating Audrey. I rushed to pull her out of the cursed fiend's mouth, but it was too late. There were deep bloody gashes in her body, and she was quickly fading. She asked to be fed to the thing, and I couldn't refuse her last wish. It hurt so badly inside. I had lied to her so many times, and she died before I could make things right.

As I write this, I'm cleaning up the shop. A single rose lies on the counter. The very flower that started the whole thing. If I hadn't been fooling around in the shop, I would have never pricked my finger and therefore none of this would have happened. I would've never fed that plant, and Audrey would still be alive.

No matter what you call it, a rose is a rose. It would smell as sweet as if you called it something else. Audrey was my rose. If taken care of, she could flower into a beautiful woman; but if neglected, she would be hurt and broken. She was as delicate as a flower. I remember the first time she walked into the shop and I found out she was my new co-worker. I remember thinking that a flower as pretty as her would fit right in at our shop. A flower shop. Yet she had wilted and died because of my neglect. I had failed to warn her about my plant, had failed to protect her. The plant was like a horde of insects-- it could completely destroy a flower if you let it.

Damn plant. It had said it would break me, and I had told it to go ahead and do its worst. And it had. It doesn't deserve to be named after my wonderful flower. It doesn't deserve to be called an Audrey Two. It should be called Seymour Two, for I am a horrible monster, just like it.


End file.
